


This looks bad, but I swear it's not...anymore

by Bloodinthepocket



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Eventual Relationships, F/M, Healer AU, Not Beta Read, Not technically an original character, TWS timeline, What Have I Done, a lot of blood, and morgues, change of plans prob going to be pietro/character but maybe i'll do an offshoot with buck too, character death but not really cause healing factor, depictions of violence after the fact, not quite canon compliant, this will probably end up as Bucky/character, tramatic experiences with hospitals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:17:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bloodinthepocket/pseuds/Bloodinthepocket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ava is dragged into government business when SHIELD desperately needs her help. Healer OFC, but she's basically 'reader' character.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What have I gotten myself into

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published fanfic anywhere, so I hope you guys like it! I have a few chapters written, but I got stuck and I'll be taking suggestions for where this should go and for ships! This is the same timeline as TWS, so spoilers. And I hope you like it!  
> Oh and the chapter names are in Ava's POV

The deep rumble of the decades old motorcycle usually was enough to calm Ava after a tough day, but she’d covered a friends shift and had been working 12 hours straight. Luckily this friend had promised many cups of coffee as recompense, even some take out, so it was almost worth it.

She wiggled the handlebars back and forth impatiently waiting for the light she was stopped at to turn green. Another loud rumbling approached, a newer Harley pulled up next to her, it was pretty snazzy. Ava’s eyes wandered from the bike to the rider, and holy shit, he was like an American poster child. Blonde, tall, and wore a brown leather jacket that looked just big enough to contain his shoulders without ripping a seam.

He looked tense, not the same tenseness Ava was feeling, but something deeper. Something more dire that was taking a toll on him. Ava, being the caring individual she was, decided to break his concentration and maybe make him smile.

“Nice bike!” The man looked startled, “S’it new?” Ava yelled over the combined engines and through her helmet.

The man grinned, temporarily out of his worry, “Yeah, and thanks, you too. What year is it?”

"79, it was my Dad’s,” The light turned green Ava threw a good bye over her shoulder and sped off, the man turning right as she continued straight.

After a few more lights she pulled into the small space between her apartment building, and the next. The little alley didn’t go anywhere, it was fenced off, and no one else used it. Mostly because it was too small for a car to fit and open it’s doors. So it was perfect motorcycle parking.

She pushed out the kickstand and tilted the front wheel to stabilize the bike, and climbed off. Patting the bike’s seat lovingly, Ava walked to the front of her building. It was a nice little place, three stories up, with a nice little lobby the stairs to the other levels centered, a wall of mail boxes, and two doors in the back corner facing one another leading to the only downstairs apartments. Ava’s was the door on the right, on the same wall as the mail boxes.

She passed them, not needing to check, and eyed her front door warily. It had a bad habit of sticking, and not opening for a couple days until it decided it was time to let anyone in. Ava pushed her key into the doorknob silently praying to the apartment gods that the door would cooperate today. Stuffing her keys back into her pocket she sighed and pushed the door. Nothing, she cursed and tried again with more force, and again nothing.

In the process of banging her head against the door for the fourth time the door to the other downstairs apartment opened. Ava’s neighbor chuckled.

“Hello, Mrs. Stanislavsky,” Ava grumbled, her forehead still against her door.

“Door not working for you, dear?” The elderly woman’s accent through the years in America had lessened, but she must have been talking to someone back home in Sokovia, because her words were more warped and gravely. However, hearing her was still somewhat of a comfort to the younger woman.

“Yes.”

“Need the knife?”

“Yeah,” This wasn’t the first time Mrs. S. had found Ava in this position. The first time she watched from her door way as Ava called the landlord, who forced the door open. The second time she stopped the younger woman from calling the unpleasant man. She handed Ava a rather large knife, explaining that the older windows could be jimmied open from the outside if she just pushed the blade up between the two planes using it to push the latch holding the window locked to an unlocked position.

It almost didn’t work, but thanks to Ava’s magnificent laziness she left it slightly unlocked so the knife could push easily against the latch. Now it stayed slightly unlocked for occasions such as this.

Mrs. S tapped Ava on the shoulder, holding out a large carving knife. She thanked the elderly woman and made a mental note to buy a pocket knife so she wouldn’t have to disturb her anymore.

Ava swapped her helmet for the knife and headed to the side of the building to her window. She pushed the latch over and quickly made her way back to the lobby, giving the knife back and taking her helmet.

“Thank you,” She smiled tiredly.

“Oh, anytime, dragă, anytime,” Mrs. S went back to her apartment as Ava went back outside, she recognized that the elderly woman had called her ‘darling’. She’d asked the older woman what it meant the first time she’d said it. Ava shook her head focusing on the task ahead.

After all the times she’d climbed through the window, Ava had hoped she could do it with some grace, but no. She was on the short side and after throwing her helmet into the apartment she jumped a little to get her stomach onto the window ledge. Wiggling in she, as always, didn’t brace herself in time and face planted into the carpet, her legs still stuck out the window.

“Jesus Christ,” Ava muttered, pulling her legs in and glad that no one had called the cops on her yet. She pulled her legs in and stood, latching the window, but not all the way.

The next few hours were normal and quiet. Ava ate some old spaghetti, hoping it wasn’t too old, she couldn’t remember the last time she had made any. Shoving everything into the dishwasher, and decided even through her tiredness she’d take a shower.

Vaguely as she stepped out of the shower, she heard the sounds of sirens echoing off the buildings, which wasn’t unusual she did live in D.C. She got into some old, much to big sweatpants, a tank top and flopped into bed. Falling asleep fairly easily.

BANG BANG BANG

"Ah!” Thump, “Fuck!”

The knocking on the front door startled Ava, more then it probably should have, and in her moment of panic, tangled in her sheets, she fell to the floor. Her face meeting carpet again. The banging stopped once she hit the floor and cursed.

As quickly as she could, Ava untangled herself and made her way to the door. Praying again to the apartment gods that it would cooperate, she unlocked it and pulled hard, and to her amazement it did. Although accompanied by a horrendous screeching.

“What.” Ava was too tired and annoyed, being woken up in the middle of the night, to be pleasant.

A blond man stood in her doorway, eye brow raised, looking far too casual for someone knocking on doors this late at night.

“You, Ava,” He looked down and flipped through a folder he was carrying, “Caine?”

“Who’s asking?”

The man sighed but seemed somewhat amused, and pulled out a badge from his jeans pocket. He flipped it open revealing an official looking SHIELD badge with the name Barton, Clinton printed on it.

Ava squinted, eyes still a bit blurry from sleep, “So?”

Clint snorted and put the badge away, “I’m here to have a talk, we, SHIELD, have a proposition for you.” He leaned back on his heals, “It might take a while to explain, mind if I-,” gesturing to the apartment.

“Yes, I do mind, but whatever,” Ava turned leaving the door open for the man to follow her into the living area. He whistled.

“Quite the mediocre place you got here.”

Ava slumped into the arm chair next to the couch, so she wouldn’t have to sit right next to the man. “Aren’t government assholes supposed to be professional?” She crossed her arms.

“Well I’m not really a normal government asshole.” Clint chuckled flopping down into the middle of the couch, spreading his arms across the back, with the folder open on his crossed legs.

“So,” he dragged out the word, “your file goes back quite a ways. Back to middle school.” He looked up as Ava stiffened, completely awake now. “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”     She did, the car, the crash, the morgue.

“Then it’s sort of scattered till your first year of college,” he paused, Ava had gone pale.

She clenched and unclenched her hands, trying to control their shaking, “So what do you want?” Her voice was small, no one should know about any of that.

Clint watched her closely, he closed the folder and leaned forward, “Look kid-,”

“I’m 23.”

“Right, kid. Listen. we’ve got a job that needs your,” he paused thinking it over, “skill set.”

“Who-,”

“Eh, sorry. Can’t really disclose any info. in such an insecure location.” He leaned back, looking much more tired and ragged then when he’d stood in the doorway.

Ava looked down at her hands, she’d wanted to leave this part of herself behind and never have it brought up again, but someone was in bad enough shape and important enough to need her help. “Okay.”

Clint jumped up, “Okay!” He smiled, “Let’s go, it’s kind of urgent.”

“Then why’d you come insid-,”

He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door, “It’s a comfort thing,” The door was open and they were out the front door of the building before Ava could say anything else.

The car ride was taking longer then Ava expected, Clint explained it away saying it was to make sure no one was following them. Which seemed counterintuitive if whoever needed her help was in bad condition.

Finally Clint pulled of the pavement to a grassy trail, leading up to a huge concrete structure. A woman stood in front of a small metal door off to the side.

“You’re not really some serial killer, and that’s your partner in crime, are you?”

Clint laughed, “Hill? Naw, she gets annoyed with me to easily.” He smiled, “She’ll take you from here.”

Ava didn’t feel that comfortable, the woman looked pretty stern, but she nodded to Clint and got out of the car. They’d stopped a ways away, and she walked over to ‘Hill’, feeling scrutinized the whole way.

“Caine?”

“Uh…Yeah?”

“Follow me,” Her voice wasn’t as demanding or ruff as Ava expected, just no nonsense.

As Hill lead Ava through the concrete halls she explained, as much as she could, “Thank you for coming. The man we need you to see is Nick Furry,” She faltered in her steps, “Do you need to know anything in particular, or?”

“Naw, I’ll know soon enough.”

She nodded, “We’ll be trying to keep you out of this as much as possible, for your safety, so I can’t really divulge much more.”

“I understand,” The agent glanced at the girl a bit taken aback, “I mean, it’s secret government stuff, I’d like to stay out of it anyway.” Ava shrugged.

Hill looked visibly less tense, “Here he is.” She drew aside some plastic to show a makeshift medical room. An older African American man lay on a hospital bed, hooked up to numerous machines.

Ava’s stomach lurched at the sight of the medical supplies, and stayed as far away as she could. “Um, so do you know how this works?” She glanced at Hill.

“In a very basic sense, from what we could put together from your files.”

Ava let out a shaky breath, “Okay, I’m going to need a chair, and if I happen to…um, die, just put me to the side. I’ll be fine.”

Hill nodded and moved a chair over to the girl. “Oh and one more thing, this’ll probably get… bloody looking at his injuries, and if I pass out and he’s not healed just make sure I keep touching him.” Hill nodded again, and stepped away.

Ava took another long breath, trying to calm herself, and placed her hands tentatively on Furry’s forearm. The large bullet wounds on his chest weren’t the first injury he’d received, Ava first felt her left forearm crack and fracture; along with some minor scrapes and bruises. Once those were healed, on Furry, Ava felt bullet after bullet sinking into her back. Muscles ripping and some ribs fracturing, and warm blood dripping down staining her tank top.

As the man kept healing, Ava kept bleeding. She could heal others fast, in a couple minutes, but her personal healing factor was much slower. For just the broken arm it would take her body at least an hour to heal it.

The blood loss was staring to get to her, and her mind was getting hazy. Cursing under her breath Ava passed out.


	2. How do these people keep getting shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter and this one are a bit short and I'll post both today because why not they're done. Which is where I need help!!! I had an idea of where this should go but some suggestions are always appreciated!  
> Hope you like it <3

The first thing to register in Ava’s mind was a multitude of voices arguing. Then, the ache of her healing body burst into her consciousness. The bullet holes and scratches had skin grown over them, but her bones where still in progress. They were fused together at least, although still cracked.

She’d known these aches and pains, and wasn’t as bothered by it as the rising voices. She groaned and cursed, slowly sitting up pushing against the thin mattress she’d been laying on. Carefully opening her eyes, the light was low so it wasn’t as jarring as it would have been if she was in a florescent bathed room.

The low light of the concrete structure illuminated a group sat around a small table a couple yards away from Ava’s resting place. The man, Nick Fury, was sitting with his back to her, the stern woman, Maria Hill was sitting by him, and they were talking to three others. A red haired woman who was sitting on a folding chair with a doctor like man pushing against her shoulder, that must have been injured. Two men, about the same height were standing, the shorter man with dark skin had his arms crossed standing slightly behind the blond man. Who looked strikingly familiar, but she didn’t have the mental strength at the moment to remember.

On the table between the group was a briefcase opened facing the unknown three, and the doctor guy. Already healing from Nick, Ava decided why not help the woman as well. What’s a little more damage, anyway? She’d heal, and the red head was probably needed for what ever was going on in D.C.

Ava swung her legs over the side of the bed and slowly lowered herself down onto her feet. Stumbling over, the group’s heads swiveled towards her uncoordinated steps.

Maria frowned, stood and walked over to her to offer an arm, looking down at the bloodied tank top she was still in.

Ava followed her gaze, “I swear it’s not as bad as it looks… anymore.”

The red head’s lips quirked up slightly, but grimaced as the doctor pressed against her shoulder.

“Do you want me to heal her too?” Ava gestured to the woman.

“You have enough energy?” Maria frowned, but helped her over to the group, who only watched.

“Sure,” She sat down where Maria had been, “It’s not like it’ll hurt anything.”

The doctor guy stepped away from the red head as Ava leaned forward. The red head woman looked suspicious, but not untrusting. Ava placed her hands on the woman’s forearm and upper arm, making sure to not actually touch the wound.

“So, um, this’ll feel weird,” Taking a deep breath Ava concentrated, and felt the muscle tearing in her shoulder.

It only took a couple minutes for the red head’s bullet hole to completely close, and appear on the other gushing blood. The group looked on in a mix of awe, confusion, and expectance from Nick and Maria.

“How’d you-?” The shorter of the two men standing exclaimed.

Ava smirked through a painful grimace, “You want the short or the long version?”

He was about to continue but Fury cut him off saying they needed to get ready for their mission. The blond man was going over everyone’s roles, and where they should be when. Ava started to see black fuzzy dots swimming through her vision, the blood loss was getting to her. The group had stopped talking mulling over what they each had to do, Ava took the opportunity to get some help.

“Hey, can one of you help me to the bed again? Gettin’ a little woozy from the blood loss.” She was starting to sway in her seat. The woman whom Ava had healed stood and helped her up. She draped Ava’s arm around her shoulder, the one without the wound. Shuffling back to the bed awkwardly, the woman introduced herself.

“Thanks for the healing, I’m Natasha by the way.” Her voice was matter-of-fact, not rude or anything, just very sure of herself.

Ava hummed to show she heard, her mind at the brink of unconsciousness. Natasha helped her sit and lay down, Ava mumbled out a thanks. The red head lingered for a moment.

“And, I wanted to say, thank you for saving Nick.” Ava nodded as she slid into a blood loss induced sleep.

Later that evening everything had healed up nicely. The broken bones were still a bit fragile and sore, but nothing that was unbearable. Ava was sitting around letting her mind wander, Maria told her to wait until someone came to collect her. Which wouldn’t be until they knew it was safe, or whenever they were done with whatever they were doing.  
It was about an hour or so until she started to nod off, this time not from blood loss just exhaustion from the very, very odd day. Ava’s head jerked up at the sound of distant explosions. Like gun shots and then momentarily the crashing of something huge.

“What the fuck is going on,” Ava questioned the concrete structure, it didn’t respond. She heard two more gigantic crashing sounds, then nothing for another hour or so.

The metal door she had entered from swung open, hitting the wall. Frantic footsteps followed, Maria appeared soon after. She looked just as frantic as her footsteps sounded, then relieved to see Ava was still there.

“I, uh…” She actually looked nervous, “We have another favor to ask.”

“Okay,” Ava started towards the door Maria had burst through, “who’s hurt?”


	3. He looks like shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a continuation of the last chapter, I split it up because I just felt it read better as 2 chapters so there's a time break, sort of.  
> Any way, this is the last chapter I actually have written out, so suggestions are always welcome! And again it's a shorter chapter, but I hope you like it!

Maria hurried Ava through the sterile hallways of the hospital. Ava was trying not to have an anxiety attack, the smell of disinfectant, the cold metal gurneys, and all the medical gear it was becoming too much. Luckily Maria stopped in front of a closed off room, guarded by armed men in black. They both entered, the three people from the concrete base where there. The two men, and Natasha, except they all looked horrible. Well, mostly the blond man, he was in the hospital bed, bloody but stabilized.

“He looks like shit.” Ava covered her mouth quickly, not meaning to say anything out loud.

Natasha seemed to relax a little, Maria sighed, the conscious man’s lips pulled up slightly. They were all still high strung and obviously tired from whatever they’d gotten themselves into.

“Ava, this is Sam Wilson, and Natasha introduced herself.” Maria gestured to the two. “And that is Steve Rogers.”

Ava’s eyes widened, “Oh.” She was a little surprised, she looked over the man. He did look like the Cap she’d learned of in history class. She was a little starstruck, until she reminded herself that he was just another person, a super-human one, but a person none-the-less.

“Okay,” Ava sat down on Steve’s side, the side with the least amount of medical gear. “Um, can you guys promise me one thing?” She looked up nervously the the three standing.

They nodded, “Please don’t let the nurses take me, I’ll probably,” She paused, looking over Steve’s injuries, if he was in this bad of shape and had super human strength then she was fucked. Finally she just said it, “I’m probably going to die, for a while, with the extent of his injuries. Just,” she looked up to Maria, “just leave me like with Nick. I’ll be okay after a while.”  
Sam and Natasha looked confused, Sam more so. Maria only nodded, grabbing some gauze pads to keep Ava’s blood from getting everywhere.

Taking a shaky breath she placed her hands on Steve’s arm. All at once everything hurt, she could tell how tired he had been, probably not sleeping much. Then the first bullet wound had grazed his side, bruised ribs from some impacts, a cut following the line of his lips, an invisible knife dug into Ava’s shoulder. She grimaced, Maria put a gauze pad over it, to keep the blood under control.

Ava’s muscles ripped apart, a bullet wound through her thigh, another through her arm, and finally her guts twisted another gun shot through her abdomen. Ava whimpered, how had this idiot gotten himself in this mess, well, now her mess.

The world started to fade, the healing from earlier had wiped her out, and now more blood loss. Ava growled out, “When I pass out, just make sure I’m still touching him until he’s healed.” There was no room for disagreement in her voice.

It wasn’t long until the hospital room dissolved, leaving Ava in a blankness that she’d come to know fairly well. Although dimmed she could feel her body being torn apart further as it took on all of Steve’s injuries.

When the woman fell limp against Steve’s hospital bed, Sam stepped forward instinctively, wanting to help. Maria held her hand up, “She’ll be okay. When she healed Fury she was technically dead for an hour until her body healed itself enough for her heart to start beating again.”

Sam was grateful sure, but definitely a little horrified. People don’t just die for a while then come back, well normal people, but he’d seen a lot of crazy things the last 24 hours and a girl that can heal someone by touching them, was not the craziest.


	4. Well this is a surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning depictions of panic/anxiety attack it will be marked with a * at the beginning and end

The first thing to register in Ava’s mind was, “Oh god, ow.” The second was, “Holy fucking shit I’ve been run over by a freight train.” Taking a mental check she could tell almost everything was closed up, but internally it was still healing.

Groaning Ava carefully opened one eye, thankfully the only light was from the city outside the floor to ceiling window to her right. Still in considerable pain Ava concentrated on studying the landscape.

Glass and metal skyscrapers littered the skyline. Most windows were dark save a few late night workers. The glow of the streetlights below added to the almost etherial glow of the sky. The more Ava studied the more unfamiliar the city beyond her window became. This wasn’t D.C. Her mind started to race wondering if she’d been taken somewhere to be experimented on, but, she tried to reason with herself, that the people she’d met wouldn’t do that. However, her brain wouldn’t take that for an answer, she’d only know those people for a few hours. Most of which she was unconscious for.

*The heart monitor beside her was beeping furiously. Ava knew this feeling, the clenching of her chest, her lungs refusing to work properly, and her brain spiraling down a dark path that all lead to an anxiety attack.

“Fuck,” Ava squeezed her eyes shut trying to focus on slowing her breathing, but the stupid heart monitor kept dragging her mind back to the night of the crash. The day everything went to hell, the day Ava woke in a cold metal box, her chest trying to heal the ‘Y’ shaped incision stapled together. The cold seeping into her bones, the metal sticking to her skin tearing at it.

“Hey, hey, I need you to listen to my voice.”

Ava shook her head.

"You can do this okay, kid? Just listen to my voice.”

The erratic beeping on the heart monitor was gone, helping her focus.*

“Breath with me okay? In…and out…. got it? In… and out…” The voice repeated this as Ava’s breathing slowly normalized.

“There you got this kid.”

Ava sighed, partially in relief that her anxiety attack was cut off, but also in irritation at being called, ‘kid’. She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar, familiar face.

It was Tony Stark, wearing an AC/DC tee-shit and jeans not at all like the old Stark Industries ads or most of the pictures of him, decked out in a suit and tie. He let off a relaxed and carefree vibe that set Ava at ease.

“So how’s our favorite patient?”

“Favorite?” She’d been there for maybe a day, based on the rate of healing.

“Of course! Don’t have to do a thing and you heal all on your own,” Tony smiled at his own joke.

Ava laughed, it was nice to have someone willing to joke about her powers. Anyone who knew either feared her, or tried to ignore the fact that she was different at all.

Tony grew slightly more serious, “We probably freaked you out, seeing as you’re in New York now.” He nodded towards the window.

“That’s an understatement, and the medical stuff doesn’t help either.” Ava looked over to the now unplugged heart monitor, “So… Why am I here in the first place? I mean, thank you but…” Ava trailed off not knowing how to say, “Cap could of just left me in a ditch somewhere and I’d have still been fine.”

“Well, good ol’ Cap wanted to make sure you’d be okay, and be able to thank ya’ properly,” tony put air quotes over properly.

Ava took a moment to think it over, but Tony interrupted her train of thought.

“Jarvis told me your heart rate had skyrocketed, and since I’m the only one up this late I came to check on yah.” He rocked back on his heels almost sheepishly, the exact opposite of how Tony Stark was portrayed.

“Thank you,” Ava looked down at her hands, “I’ve never really been able to get out of them on my own. My dad used to help me, but I’m sure you read my file.”

“Yeah, pretty nasty way to find out you have powers.”

Ava chuckled humorlessly, “You’re telling me.”

“Anyway,” Tony clapped his hands together, “I should get Cap up here, he’s been bugging me since you got here.”

“How long was I out?”

“Like a day, it’s not been very long, but he doesn’t like other people getting hurt for him.”

“I know the feeling,” Ava smiled.

Tony returned it, “Be right back kid.”

As he slipped out the door Ava yelled after him, “I’m not a kid!”


	5. Like a god damned puppy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god, so I've finally finished this chapter. It's short as hell and not very exciting, and was the part I was having trouble with (so sorry in advance). The rest should come out a lot easier! I have till the 29th until college starts up again so I'll have plenty of time to write, idk exactly how long this will be but in the time I have I'll hopefully get everything written out roughly!  
> Thank you so much for reading and for all the kudos!!!  
> Hope you enjoy! (And even though I have an idea of where this is heading, any suggestions or ideas are still super helpful! I'll be sure to credit you if I use your's, and finally you can also suggest stuff for my next project, I've got some started but nothing like this one {yet}) <3

In her moment of solitude Ava’s pain resurfaced. Talking with Tony had distracted her from her still healing body. The pain was less then when she’d first woken up, granted, but it was still far from comfortable.

Ava blew out a shaky breath as the door opened, Steve, looking much better then the last time she saw him, stuck his head through before stepping inside. Tony waved from the hallway as Steve shut the door.

He looked over her quickly, assessing the pained smile and the still healing wounds, that he could see.

“Do you need more pain meds?”

Ava couldn’t help but smile at his fatherly concern, “Nah, they don’t work on me anyway, and it’s not that bad.”

Steve frowned and crossed his arms, knowing it was in fact very bad, as he’d been the one who took the beating.

Ava held her hand up before he could say anything, “Listen, if I couldn’t handle it I’d still be unconscious.”

He was still concerned but took her word for it. Stepping next to her hospital bed he continued, “I wanted to thank you, for everything you’ve done the last two days. Saving Nick, healing Natasha and me.” He smiled, “I don’t think we could have done it without you.”

Ava smiled back, it was impossible not to when this giant golden retriever of a man grinned. The moment didn’t last as her mind automatically jumped to the negatives.

"So, what’s going to happen to me now? I mean, I wasn’t supposed to get this involved. I probably know too much and-,”

Steve, held his hands up cutting her off before her mind went out of control, “Slow down there, all you have to worry about right now is healing up. We’ll figure out a few possibilities for you.”

Ava relaxed, so relieved that she wouldn’t get the stereotypical treatment movies always seemed to show, death.

“Thank you.”

Steve’s smile was back, “Get some rest, you’ll, uh, probably be healed by morning, right?”

“What time is it?”

“About 2 a.m.”

Ava snorted, thinking back to Tony and how he’d still been awake, “Yeah, I should be good.”

Steve’s smile grew, if it was even possible, “We’ll talk about everything then.”


	6. The universe hates me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe so this is late as shit. To be honest this chapter gave me so much trouble, well the end did because it's just filler, so sorry if it's a really hard to read at the end or confusing.  
> And the next chapter is almost finished being typed up, it's entirely written though!  
> Also, mentions of a crash again, and I changed the language that Mrs. S speaks to Romanian as that's what most other writers use for Sokovia.

Ava was given two options, either return home and be monitored the rest of her life, or become a member of the team. She was shocked at the proposition, trying to reasoned that she didn’t know how to fight. Tony quickly dismissed this saying she would start training with the team, and until she was ready she’d be their “one woman med. team”.

Although the prospects of helping this amazing group of people was incredible Ava still hesitated. The prospect of using her powers so much was frightening, mostly because she’d been hiding them all her life. The inevitable pain that would come with her powers wasn’t exactly something to look forward to, however, she couldn’t see herself back in her mundane life.

As soon as Ava said she’d join Tony arranged for everything in her apartment to be brought to the tower. She did convince him to let her go back to D.C. to get her motorcycle and ride it back. She figured it’d be the last scenic ride she’d be able to go on for quite a while.

Two days later, after being introduced to the rest of the team, except Thor but he would be there soon to start looking for Loki’s scepter, Ava was back in her now bare apartment. She smiled at the memory of the group movie night, Clint and Tony bickered over which movie to watch. Steve, Sam, and Bruce watched with exasperation but in staying in their own conversation. Natasha talked to Ava about any self defense she knew, and what she’d start with in training. Ava looked around at the apartment one last time, feeling nostalgic but still glad to be moving on.

Her door didn’t give her any problems when she’d entered and again as she locked it for a final time, almost like it knew. Mrs. S was waiting by the front door to say goodbye, and hold onto her key for the landlord to pick up.

“Dragă, I’m going to miss you,” she patted Ava’s arm, “but it’s time for you to leave this dump.”

Smiling Ava hugged her, she was going to miss her, “You have my number if you ever need help.”

The old woman chuckled, “Don’t worry about me, dragă.”

Ava slipped out the front door, excited to get back on her motorcycle, after all it’d been a few days without it. As she kicked it to life she grinned, the deep rumble instantly calming her. Before she pulled out she texted Tony to tell him she was leaving, and that she’d text him again when she stopped for gas. Ava had waited for dusk before leaving to avoid the traffic of the day. It’d be a four hour drive but she could make it three and a half if she sped, within reason.

She’d decided to take a slightly more scenic route to enjoy the country side before getting back into the big city. With the odd route she’d decided on Ava was growing suspicious of the black SUV following her. She spotted it just as she left D.C. and even though it stayed quite a way behind and disappeared from her mirrors every so often, but it’d always show back up.

It’d been steadily gaining on her as she neared the next town, she didn’t need gas just yet but decided to stop and text Tony. He’d grown, in the short time they’d known each other, to be a sort of older brother figure, and had insisted on the check in texts.

As Ava started filling up her motorcycle the SUV parked at the gas pump next to her’s. With her helmet on they wouldn’t be able to see her eyes, so she discreetly looked over. The windows in the back were so tinted she couldn’t see into them, even if it was light out, the front she could see two men. The driver got out to pump gas like normal, but the passenger was staring at her intently.

Ava repressed a shudder as she texted Tony the situation. Most of the team was off on a small side mission before they started going after Hydra bases looking for the scepter so the Quinjet was out of the question. Ava didn’t want to be such a bother either, she’d had that habit since she was a kid, so she just asked for him to monitor her location from her phone’s GPS. If she didn’t text at the next gas station or the signal went off track then Tony would know something was wrong, and then send in the calvary.  
She thanked him before putting the nozzle back and kicked her bike to life. Back on the road Ava made sure to speed just as much as she had been before to keep from raising suspicion from the men in the SUV. Sure enough the SUV soon appeared in her side mirrors.

 

“Hey, Bruce?”

“Hm?”

“Can you come look at this?”

Said scientist looked up from his research to Tony on the other side of the lab, a large monitor displaying a map with the outlined route Ava was taking to get there. Once Bruce stepped beside Tony he saw the small blinking dot labeled “Ava” that was stationary. He studied the map around the dot, it was on a long stretch of road between two small cities, and she was stopped just shy of the middle.

“Do you think she ran out of gas?” Bruce offered, trying to quell some of the nervous energy Tony was giving off.

“She stopped two towns ago, she’d still have at least three-fourths of a tank.”

“Blown out tire?"

Tony grunted in frustration, “I doubt it, I think it’s that SUV she told me about.”

“What SUV?”

Tony explained what Ava had texted him just a few minutes ago.

“So you think that whoever it was did what?”

Tony threw his hands up in exasperation, “I don't know! Kidnapped her or ran her over or something!”

Suddenly the little dot they’d been staring at disappeared, Jarvis piped up, “The signal for Ms. Caine’s phone has been lost.” Tony jumped up, fully intent on flying out there in the suit to figure this out.

“Hold on,” Bruce stopped him, “you can’t just rush out there, at least call Natasha or Clint they know how to track people that go off the grid.”

Tony slumped back down, grumbling and patched himself through to the Quinjet. Luckily the team, Clint, Nat, and Steve, were almost back to the tower. Bruce stayed behind to monitor everything from the lab while Tony headed out with the other three to search the last location of Ava’s phone.

They searched the stretch of road for almost a hour before they found her helmet and motorcycle hidden in a culvert under the road. Bringing both on to the Quinjet they found shattered glass and plastic that must have been Ava’s phone in her helmet. No one wanted to leave that lonely stretch of highway, but there was nothing else there to point them in her direction.


	7. Shattered ribs are the worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So shit gets real in this chapter. So as far as triggers go it's stuff about experimentation, same graphic-ness as the previous chapters.  
> Also, this is kind of turned accidentally into a Pietroxreader/ofc story? But I was wondering if anyone would like a separate timeline where it'd be Buckyxreader/ofc? Let me know if you do, and I do have some other stories in the works but I'm going to try and at least have this one mostly done before I type up another.  
> The next chapter is half written, it could have went with this but I think it'll read better separate.   
> Lastly, I hope you enjoy!

The white hot sting of road rash crawled its way into Ava’s slowly waking mind. Most of the skin on her left side was gone, scrapped away by the asphalt. Groaning, Ava tried to sit up only to be impeded by something holding her wrists and ankles. He brain quickly caught up, her last conscious moments playing over in her head. The SUV gaining on her, then swerving, making her lose control of her bike.

“Shit,” she threw her head back in frustration. She froze at the metallic sound of her skull hitting what she was laying on, her eyes snapped open.

The room was spacious, the walls and ceiling made of old stone with modern metal reinforcements. Around her were several lab spaces, with papers strewn over the tops. Looking down she saw what she was dreading, a metal operating table that had straps to keep her down. Directly to her right, in line with her shoulder was a shiny steel cart adorned with a tray of medical instruments.

Her breathing quickened, just the sight of the medical supplies was enough to trigger her anxiety, but with her situation Ava knew she’d be at the receiving end of those tools. Her harsh breaths echoed off the stone, the frantic nature of them not doing anything to help her compose herself.

“Fuck, you need to calm down,” Ava squeezed her eyes shut trying to focus on her breathing and not what was only a few feet to her right, “you have to calm down to figure a way out of this.”

After a few moments of focusing on her breathing and calming it Ava was in control enough to let her mind start working things out. Her thoughts instantly went to the team, especially Tony. He’d been monitoring her location, and she was supposed to text him at her next pit stop which she never got to. Then if that didn’t raise enough suspicion her not showing up would.

Ava’s thoughts were interrupted before her brain could spout doubt the team’s commitment to help her by a door being opened behind her head. She couldn’t twist around far enough to see who entered but she could hear two people speaking in a language that was strangely familiar, but she couldn’t understand it. Not familiar like she could understand small bits and phrases, but like she’d definitely heard it a few times.

Two men can into view on her right, close to the medical instruments, a man in military wear and the other in a lab coat, presumably a doctor. 

The man in military gear spoke up, this time in english, “Ah, it looks like our guest is finally awake,” he smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile, no, it was elated at the prospects of what Ava could bring to his organization.

“I am Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, and you, my dear, have some skills that we are very interested in.”

Ava gathered the scraps of her courage, she wasn’t going to cooperate with whoever these people were, “Thanks, can’t say you’re the only ones.”

Strucker chuckled not bothering to reply to her, he instead turned to the doctor asking him something in their language. (Between * are in Sokovian aka Romanian)

*“Should the testing begin now, or should we wait for her to heal fully?”

“For accurate results we should wait.”

“Very well,”* Strucker the addressed Ava in english again, “We will see you soon Ms. Caine.”

Ava was left alone with so many questions. They obviously wanted to use her for her powers, but how? Once the road rash disappeared she knew.

The two came back, the doctor stepping up this time. They exchanged a few words before he picked up a scalpel. He didn’t even hesitate to cut into her, Ava cried out but quickly silenced herself as best she could. She wasn’t going to give these bastards the satisfaction, or at least try not to.

The doctor made four long cuts along her stomach, each deeper than the last, and stepped back with a clipboard to observe. Ava couldn’t help the whimper that slipped out as the muscle of the deepest cut started to weave back together like thread. A few moments passed and the shallowest had healed, a few minutes and the deepest was closed. The doctor let out an excited exclamation in his native tongue, he wrote something down before picking up the scalpel again.

Various experiments were performed every day. Sometimes it was how she healed, other times it was how she healed others. Time was getting harder to judge as Ava was in and out of consciousness so often. Had it been days or weeks since she’d last been awake? Fortunately, he pain was getting easier to take, but the healing pains were still by far the worst.

The day the doctor was testing if she could bring someone back to life two people, about her age, she’d never seen burst in just before she passed out and seconds later died. Ava was jolted awake with a burst of energy, her breathing erratic as she only saw the cold stainless steel box and the stapled incision on her chest. The image cleared and she was back on that operating table, strapped down. Composing herself, somewhat, she saw the two talking to the doctor hurriedly in the familiar language. Both the brown haired woman and the silvery-blond haired man were watching her carefully.

Ava flinched and looked away as the broken ribs, from the agent she’d healed, ached from her rapid breathing. The agent had only died from blood loss, which her body was getting better and better at fixing quickly.

She jumped at the sound of metal slamming into stone and furious stomping footsteps. Strucker came into her peripherals, anger radiating off him. He ushered the two out of the room, in his ranting foreign tongue Ava picked up one word, Avenger. 

That night Ava was unable to fall into her usual fitful sleep, the ribs still poking into her organs trying to move themselves back into place. Night was when she could get some reprieve from the constant experiments, so when she heard the everyday creak of the metal door she tried to convince herself it was only in her head. Same with the pair of footsteps that approached her.

“Who are you?”

“What?” Ava was jostled from her fearful state, as warm accented words flowed through the dark. 

There was a beat of silence before the lights were beaming above her. Squinting Ava could see the two people from earlier, standing on her left which was somewhat of a relief. 

“I said,” the woman spoke her eyes glowing red, “who are you?”

Maybe it was the peculiar situation, maybe it was because they were around the same age, but Ava’s brash nature returned.

“What’s it look like? I’m a fucking science experiment for these assholes!”

The shock from her unexpected tone was hidden quickly.

“Are you with the Avengers or not,” the man spoke, the lilt of his words reminded Ava of Mrs. S back in D.C., maybe she was in Sokovia.

“Not really?”

“Can’t you just answer directly,” the man sounded disgruntled.

“I’m technically not an Avenger, how’s that?” Ava put as much sarcasm as she could in the last two words.

They looked angry, but the woman’s head snapped up like she heard something and they were gone along with the lights, like they’d never been there.

“Nice talking with you.”


	8. Can't we get a break?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow okay so this chapter was much longer, but it seemed like a better stopping point.  
> Some extra tags/triggering things this chapter: Impromptu surgery, graphic-ish depictions of bullet wounds and healing and surgery.  
> Hope you guys like this new chapter, next one should be up soon since it's pretty much done!  
> Thank you for reading and all the kudos!! <3  
> (also didn't really edit this much so there might be some minor changes to words and such if I find anything that doesn't flow)

Early the next morning, or what Ava assumed was early, the doctor decided to test her ability to heal from a gun shot. Not that they hadn’t done this before, but this time he wanted to see what would happen if the bullet stayed inside her. Ava knew what would happen, the answer was a very painful one but she wasn’t about to start cooperating now.

It took several shots before one ricocheted off her ribcage and stayed in her gut. The doctor had just sat down to start observing when an agent ran in franticly shouting in their language. In Ava’s hazy low blood and pain filled mind she only noticed she was alone when the metal door slammed shut.

The ground’s tremors from explosions muffled by the stone around her kept Ava from slipping into unconsciousness. When the tremors stopped her body still refused to drift off, like it knew it had to stay lucid for just a little bit longer.

The sound of something charging brought her attention to the door, a loud blast and metal falling onto stone echoed through the room. Mechanized footsteps approached.

“Oh my god!” Ava’s lips quirked up at the voice. “Holy shit, kid, let’s get you outta here!” Tony, in his suit, quickly removed the straps that’d held her down for so long.

“Tony,” Ava’s voice was weak and raspy from the pained cries that left her so frequently, “bullet.” She pointed to her abdomen, the skin had healed over with no sign of any trauma.

Tony froze for a moment, “They left a bullet in?”

Ava nodded weakly before her body finally let the dark wash of unconsciousness take over. Ton knew, from the few days she’d been at the tower, that her healing factor could do a hell of a lot, but not push out a foreign object. So if anything was imbedded in her the tissues would try and heal like normal, meaning that what ever was obstructing its’ path would be nudged around. Not enough to push it out, but enough to cause a continuous cycle of tearing tissue only to have healing cells move the object to cause more damage. So the little metal bullet was being jostled around ripping at her insides.

Tony quickly go her outside where Thor picked her up to took her to the Quinjet while Tony went back to the base to find the scepter.

Ava’s unconsciousness was cut short as something sharp dug into her abdomen. She shot up struggling to get away from the white lab coats that swirled around her.

“Ava!”

Her name broke her our of her panicked vision. The stone walls dissolved to the metal hull of the Quinjet, the lab coats turned into Tony and Bruce. Their faces full of concern and remorse for what they were going to do.

“We have to get the bullet out,” Bruce tried to hide the scalpel in his hand but Ava still caught the reflected glint of light from it’s blade.

“Right, bullet,” her breathing was still ragged, but she did her best to lay back down.

Tony cursed under his breath, “Cap, Thor?”

The two blonds approached to help hold her down, as Tony had to keep the incision open for Bruce to find the damned thing. They whispered apologies before Steve held down her shoulders and Thor her legs.

“Ava,” Bruce hesitated to cut into her again, “do you know where it’s at?”

“It’s,” her breath hitched as the bullet shifted, “on the left, right under my ribs.”

He nodded and warned her before cutting into her skin. She tried her best to stay still, but as Tony held the cut open and Bruce dug around she couldn’t help but struggle and let out a strangled scream.

“God dammit!” Ava threw her head back hitting the table with a dull thud, “It’s up farther!”

After another second Bruce stepped away with bloodied forceps and a metal pellet, “Got it!”

The other three backed up quickly as well, letting her curl up on her side. After a few moments she breathed out a few curses and looked up.

“What took you guys so long?” Her snarky voice brought relieved smiles to their faces, glad that she hadn’t been broken down by Hydra.

Once back at the tower Clint was whisked off to be treated by Dr. Cho, Natasha close behind. Ava had insisted on healing him, but everyone denied her, reasoning that she’d been through a shit ton and deserved a break. She didn’t want to admit it but she was exhausted from the constant experiments, but she still wanted to help. She grumbled the whole way to her room, her arm slung over Tony’s shoulder. He just shook his head.

“Get some rest kid, you gotta start getting your strength back,” he continued even though Ava opened her mouth to retaliate, “not to mention you’re going to have to give out all the details of what Hydra did.” She looked away from him at that.

He sighed, “Get some rest, kid, it’ll be tough.”

Ava knew he was right, Tony had to do the same not so long ago. Relive everything almost as soon as you’re free, plus Ava already had a shaky relationship with reliving past trauma, so this wasn’t going to be easy. 

Tony waved from her door, “See ya’ tomorrow, kid,” and shut it gently.

The next few days passed quickly, from her training with Natasha, for the moment just building back her strength from being immobile for so long, and recounting her time with Hydra. One morning Tony grabbed her before her training and drug her down to the basement of the tower. He surprised her with her motorcycle, still damaged but he knew Ava would want to fix it herself. The day of the party Natasha had to pull her away from it to get ready.

That night Ava stayed to the corners, content to watch everyone, and because she still had trouble with standing for too long. Once everything had settled down and it was just the team plus Dr. Cho, Maria, and Rhodey, she joined them.

She sat next to Steve on the long couch he and Thor were on, she declined the offer to try and lift Mjölnir. Thor stood as Tony mocked him saying the hammer must use some sort of finger-print identity system.

“Yes of course, very very interesting theory. I have a simpler one,” he lifted the hammer like it was nothing, “you’re all not worthy.”

Some scoffed and booed, others laughed, but it all stopped as an ear piercing screech reverberated through the room. Sloppy metallic footsteps revealed a barely put together Iron Legion robot. It leaked fluids and its movements were rough like it was walking on broken legs.

Its gravely metallic voice hissed out, “Worthy,” as it turned to the group.

“No, how could you be worthy?” It gestured to them with a jerky sweeping motion, “you’re all killers.”

Steve was standing now with Ava behind him, “Stark.”

Tony looked to his phone trying to get Jarvis to respond. The mangled bot continued.

“I’m sorry I was asleep, or,” it turned, “I was a dream.” It shook its head. “This terrible noise and I was covered in… in strings. Had to kill the other guy, he was a good guy.” It didn’t sound very remorseful.

“You killed someone?” Steve asked.

“Wouldn’t have been my first call,” the bot mocked, “but down here in the real world we’re faced with ugly choices.”

“Who sent you?” Thor stood in front of Helen, she and Ava shared a nervous look.

The sound of a rewinding tape came from the robot, then Tony’s voice, “I see a suit of armor around the world.”

Bruce looked to the unsettled billionaire, “Ultron.”

“In the flesh, or no not yet. Not this chrysalis,” Thor gripped Mjölnir and Maria cocked her gun, “but I’m ready. I’m on a mission.”

“What mission?” Natasha spoke up.

“Peace in our time,” three iron legion bots burst through the wall behind him. One headed straight toward the group. Most jumped out of the way, Maria dropped to the floor shooting, and Steve pushed Ava down before kicking up the coffee table. The robot hit it sending Steve flying backwards.

Tony and Rhodey jumped down from the raised level of couches everyone had been on, Tony got tackled by a bot sending him crashing into a book shelf, and Rhodey got a repulser blast and crashed through the skylight down to a platform above the Quinjet. Natasha ran with Bruce and barely made it over the bar to cover. Ava grabbed Helen and ran to the piano in the corner away from the chaos.

Thor ripped off a leg of one of the robots and threw it over the balcony, severing everything below its torso. It landed a few feet in front of Ava and Helen. Ava pushed Helen behind her, knowing that she’d be able to take what ever damage the bot could dish out. It rose on one hand, the other raised and charging a shot, but it stopped and looked at Helen interested. As it was lowering its’ arm Steve grabbed it from behind and threw it to Thor to crush. Tony, hanging from the back on one robot, jammed a fondue fork into its’ circuits both he and it falling to the stairs. Clint threw Steve his shield to demolish the last robot, which fell in front of Ultron.

“That was dramatic,” he paced over the debris at his feet, “I’m sorry I know you mean well,” he didn’t sound sorry at all, “but you didn’t think it through.”

Ava and Helen stood, stepping out from behind the piano as Ultron kept talking.

“You want to protect the world, but you don’t want it to change. How is humanity saved if it’s not allowed to evolve? With these,” he picked up the halved robot at his feet crushing its head, “these puppets. There’s only one path to peace,” he paused dramatically, “the Avengers extinction.”

They had enough and Thor threw Mjölnir, Ultron’s body easily fell apart. As the light faded from his chest and eyes he hummed, “I had strings but now I’m free.”


	9. Not this shit again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit a chapter only two days after the last one! Oh man, don't expect that for the next though, sorry DX  
> So some stuff from the last chapter seemed rushed, especially the fight stuff so I'm working on that for the 'big battle' coming up. And as always thank you so much for reading, the kudos, and all the amazing comments I've gotten!  
> Side note: for the end of this I'm trying to decide if it should end sort of where the movie does, or add in some fluff? Let me know what you think, also let me know if I should do an off shoot of this character/universe so it's BuckyxOFC?

Ava sat on one of the many office chairs placed haphazardly around the lab as the rest discussed what Ultron had done and what he could do. She healed Rhodey’s shoulder easily, it had just been dislocated so she made sure the ligaments and tendons were okay, and after Maria had gotten all the glass out of her foot she healed the small cuts. Everyone else was bruised but fine and refused to have such insignificant wounds healed. So she sat, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened.

Her attention was caught as Thor stomped in picking Tony up by the throat, Steve intervened and the god thrust him away. Whatever was said next didn’t reach Ava’s ears, she was back in Sokovia with the doctor testing how her body reacted to asphyxiation. She shuddered at the ghostly hand around her neck keeping her lungs screaming for air.

Clint noticed her change in demeanor, her tensing and her breathing becoming quicker and shallow. As the others focused on Tony he came down the stairs to kneel in front of her.

He spoke quietly, “Ava, you need to focus. You’re at the tower,” he counted and breathed with her until she calmed some and her eyes refocused on him. He sent a scowl to the still arguing group, helping Ava up and getting her to her room.

He stayed for a moment watching the girl from her door as she lay in bed staring at the wall, she was so much different from the person he originally found in D.C. She had been much more lively, now he could see all her demons swirling in her head. Clint couldn’t help the guilt that arose, he’d been the one to convince her to heal Fury, dragging her into this life. He sighed and shut the door going back down to the team to help figure out this whole mess.

The next morning the team began to riffle through boxes of old Shield files for anything they had on Strucker, or really any leads at all. With Tony’s social prowess they were able to find a man that could be harboring Vibranium. So they all set of to the African coast.

The Quinjet landed far enough away from the salvage yard that it couldn’t be seen easily. Bruce and Ava stayed on board as the rest snuck to the boats. The two listened through the comms, hopeful that everything was going to go smoothly, Ava stiffened when two voices with familiar accented lilts came through. The brunet woman and silvery-haired man were with Ultron. Without much warning all hell broke loose, as soon as it did the comms went to static.

Bruce tried to reach them, “Guys, is this a code green?”

All they heard back was garbled static. They exchanged a concerned look before Bruce opened the Quinjet’s bay door. Only distant gun shots reached them as all the fighting was inside the ship.

Bruce stepped out farther to decipher if they needed his, well, the other guy’s help. Ava was about to follow but a streak of silver caught her eye. She squinted, trying to figure out where it came from. She opened her mouth to call Bruce but was cut off as the man and woman appeared next to him. 

Red whips of something came from the girl’s hands and dissolved into Bruce’s skull. He fell the the ground clutching his head as his body convulsed, growing in size and turning green. The two disappeared again as he fully turned into the Hulk, he bellowed and ran. His anger flowing freely.

“So, you are an Avenger now?”

Ava jumped, the two where back again, this time at the entrance of the Quinjet walking towards her. She laughed nervously at the man’s question, backing up, “No, still technically not.”

The two looked to each other, silently discussing something.

“You chose the wrong team,” the woman stepped forward.

“Yeah, cause a crazy nazi group and a delusional robot are so much better.” Ava chastised herself, now was not the time for snarky comebacks.

The man flashed closer to her, a streak of silver connecting him to his previous spot, she yelped and fell back, “You still have a choice if you are not with them.” He paused, his cold stare giving way, for only a moment, to soft blue. “Come with us,” he held out his hand.

Ava stared at it, “And if I don’t?”

The brunet’s eyes flashed red, “Then I show you your greatest fear.”

Ava looked between the two for a moment before letting out a humorless laugh, “I see and feel that about every night.” She fixes them with a hard glare, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in a morgue, after you’ve gone through an autopsy?” Her voice rose as she continued, “Or being strapped down for weeks being used as a fucking lab rat that can’t die!”

She didn’t exactly know where the burst of anger came from, but the boldness that came with it stunned the two. Their doubt beginning to show through. Before they could do anything one of Ultron’s robots landed at the entrance of the Quinjet.

“What are you waiting for? She’d chosen their side, Stark’s side.”

They turned back to her, with slightly less doubt, the woman raising her hands.

Ava sneered, covering her fear, “Just do it already.”

Red energy engulfer her head and she was gone, back to a place that haunted her every waking moment.

 

Pietro looked away from the girl writhing on the floor in pain. He remembered that they had heard her cries in the base long before they ever saw her. At first they ignored it, thinking it was another volunteer, that was until Wanda sensed that she wasn’t willingly there. Which was when they decided to see what was going on in the room they were told to stay away from.

They walked in as she fell over dead as the agent she’d healed gasped, coming back to life. Wanda sent a surge of energy into the girl to start her heart again. The doctor pulled them away franticly trying to explain what he was doing, but they weren’t listening they were watching the girl. Her eyes were franticly moving around, her breaths were shaky and rough. When her eyes landed on them, she gaze held nothing but terror. She turned away more aware of where she was, trying to calm herself.

Strucker burst in absolutely livid that they were in there, he ushered them out as he explained that the girl was an Avenger. She didn’t look like any they’d seen, or even that strong, so they decided to sneak in later to question her.

Her demeanor or completely different with them, now there was a fire behind her eyes, a will to fight even after weeks of whatever the doctor had been doing. Her unwillingness to answer directly was wearing on their already frayed nerves, and before they could get anything else from her Wanda sensed someone coming and Pietro got them out of there, leaving with more questions than answers. Then, when they saw one of the Avengers flying her away from the base the next day, they were conflicted with a sense of relief. 

Now looking at her curled up on the Quinjet’s floor, the same unbridled terror in her eyes, they questioned what they were doing. Although, it wasn’t the time to dwell on it, they’d finished the plan and it was time to return to Sokovia. 

Pietro sent one last glance over his shoulder to her, he knew she was lost in her vision, but her eyes peered through him piercing his soul. He shook it off and picked up Wanda running back to their home.


	10. Not as shocked as I should be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this is out a day later then I said, but hey it's out! I had a hell of a time with this chapter but I've pushed through! Hope everyone enjoys! Oh, and theirs some mention of morgues, again.  
> And the next chapter probably wont be out super soon, it's mostly done I just have to find time between college stuff and play practice but it'll get here eventually! And I proof read this once so hopefully there aren't too many mistakes.  
> Thank you everyone of all the comments and kudos too! Like holy shit, I didn't expect this to get so many views, so thank you so so much <3

The cold and pain slowly dissolved, Ava opened her eyes to the ceiling of the Quinjet. She let out a shaky breath, trying to dispel the images still rolling through her mind. She thought her nightmares were bad, they were so much blurrier, with only the large details coming in. In the vision everything was crystal clear. Details that Ava hadn’t realized made it so much worse. Like the all encompassing silence of the morgue, her breaths reverberating off the metal making the small space seem like it was closing in on her. Or how the staples in her chest were slowly being pushed out of her skin as it regenerated, frost forming on the newly revealed metal as it came in contact with the frigid air.

“Hey kid, you back with us?”

Ava was pulled out of her spiraling thoughts by Tony who was kneeling in front of her.

“I,” she thought back to what happened just before she was lost to her vision, “Bruce! Is Bruce okay?”

Tony gave her a tiny dismal smile, “Physically he’s fine, but he’s not going to forgive himself for a long time.” He looked over to the doctor curled up against the seats on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Ava glanced from him to the others, Clint was flying the jet, Thor, Steve, and Natasha all sat lost in their own thoughts. Probably still somewhat lost in what Wanda showed them, Ava certainly was having trouble shaking the phantom pains of injuries long since healed.

“Where’re we going?”

Tony patted her shoulder and stood to take his own seat to get some rest, “Safe house.”

 

Ava stayed to the back of the group only Bruce behind her, as the team walked through a grassy field towards a two story farm house. It was off white with green shutters on the windows, and a wrap around porch facing them. The warm breeze that swept through the field and trees that surrounded the house was incredibly calming. With everything that just transpired, the serenity and seclusion of the landscape helped everyone calm down. As they climbed the steps to the porch Thor asked what all this was.

“Safe house?” Tony glanced around the porch, it was well lived in for a safe house.

Clint opened the front door, “Let’s hope.” After a few steps in Clint called out, “Honey, I’m home.”

A very pregnant woman stepped into view from the kitchen, she looked surprised to see so many people in her living room, but as she took them all in she smiled warmly.

“I have company, sorry I didn’t call ahead,” Clint and the woman kissed and hugged.

“This is some kind of Agent,” Tony quickly tried to reason out what he was seeing, looking to Thor who glanced back disbelieving his deduction. Still Clint had never mentioned a wife, let alone a pregnant one.

“Everyone, this is Laura,” Clint keep his arm around her waist as she gave the group a small wave.

She smiled bashfully, “I know all your names.” She laughed a little to try and disperse some of the tension. Ava was reminded of her own mother, with her warm smile and always trying to make everyone comfortable.

Everyone stayed still but Tony and Ava who gave her a small wave in return. The team’s attention was drawn to the sound of two pairs of feet running down the flight of stairs, a girl and a boy rounded the corner. Clint was ready to pick the little girl up and bring the boy to his side.

“Hey sweetheart, hey buddy!” He kissed their heads.

As he raved over his kids Tony pointed at them, still in disbelief, “Those are smaller agents.”

The little girl, now on her own two feel again asked, “Did you bring Auntie Nat?”

Natasha instantly changed her demeanor from her haunted look to a lighthearted one, “Why don’t you hug her and find out?” She picked up the mini Barton hugging her tightly. Ava was glad Nat had let her heal her bruised ribs before they landed or else that would’ve seriously hurt.

Steve spoke up in the ruckus, “Sorry for barging in on you-,”

Tony cut him off sounding irked, “Yeah, we would’ve called ahead but we were busy having no idea you existed.”

Clint smiled apologetically, “Yeah, well Fury helped me set this up when I joined. Kept it off Shield’s files, like to keep it that way. Figured it was a good place to lay low.”

Everyone broke into small groups with their own conversations. Clint, his family, and Nat in one. Tony and Bruce in another and Thor, Steve, and Ava remained where they had been standing, silently taking everything in.

After a moment Thor broke off, stepping out of the house with Steve hot on his heels. Laura quickly sensed the tension and offered anyone showers, Bruce gladly took the chance. Clint called over his shoulder as he and Laura made their way upstairs that Tony and Steve could chop some fire wood to entertain themselves, and left them to their own devices.

Natasha made her way upstairs as well to get a shower in after Bruce, Ava followed Tony outside and sat on the porch steps as Tony met Steve at a pile of logs, who’d changed out of his suit.

Ava quickly got lost in the soft breeze and rhythmic sound of the two swinging their axes. She wasn’t pulled out of her trance until the man who was the reason she had been pulled into this mess stood on the steps beside her.

“Good to see you Ms. Caine, and under slightly better circumstances.” Nick glanced down to her.

Ava smiled, shaking off the shock that the sun had mostly disappeared behind the horizon, “I wouldn’t say it’s much better.”

Nick snorted out a chuckle before growing stoic, “I wanted to apologize for dragging you into this. You could’ve been spared a lot of suffering.”

Ava laughed dryly, “You wouldn’t be here breathing on your own without me.” She stood giving Fury a small smile, “My powers were going to get me wrapped in something sooner or later. I’m just glad I can help the good guys.”

He nodded with his lips turned up in an almost smile and gestured for her to head into the house first to join the rest to discuss their next move.


	11. NOT A CHAPTER (so so sorry)

Hey everybody I want to apologize for 1: not posting in forever and 2: for the next few weeks that I probably wont be posting.   
I've finished my 2 year degree and on Friday I'm moving to University to get my BA, so shits been crazy. I will say that I've been working on multiple other things!!!! That I've been working on, some for quite a while, and I (if I find the time with the move and new school) will be typing them up.  
As for THIS story I'm kind of stuck, but I'm not saying it's discontinued!!! This is by far the longest and most detailed story I've ever written (so far) and I plan on finishing it!!  
So THANK YOU SO SO MUCH for reading and for the kudos and for everything, so much love!!


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